Pub Bike - Part 43 (or something like that)

December 28, 2022

Pub Bike - Part 43 (or something like that)

When road bikes with wafer thin clearances were my thing, mudguards were a plastic-clip-on-afterthought. Something for the winter that couldn't pass under the fork crown or seat stay bridge, and offered little protection. Now they're pretty much a part of all my bike builds. My preferred choice is Velo Orange or Honjo - aluminium and with classic looks. For the Pub Bike I've gone with Velo Orange's 26” x 60 mm (the clash of units jars!) smooth and silver ones. Velo Orange mudguards come pre-drilled, unlike Honjo, but I've found fitting them fine despite the limited customisation.

Normally, mudguards have been the last things I've fitted, and I’ve had to faff around as cables, brakes, chains, and chain rings got in the way. This time I fitted the mudguards prior to those components. Their fitting always takes time. Not just because of my amateur spannering but also the challenge of compatibility and getting a decent fender (I've said it) line.

The seat and chain stay bridges are not drilled to take a bolt. P clips then. The chain stay bridge was fairly straight forward, a thickish metal washer helping with the fender line.

The provided crimp-on bracket didn't line up with a P clip.

I went with directly attaching the mudguard to a P clip.

With the frame having braze-ons for the mudguards stays and the fork crown drilled to take a bolt, I could make do with the bolts, clips, and L bracket provided with the mudguards to finish off the rear one and fit the front one. Attachment at the rear braze-ons:

The L bracket for the front mudguard:

Pre-mudguards (the tyres are Schwalbe Billy Bonkers 26 x 2.1” [consistent units, better]):

With mudguards (and Velo Orange's leather mudguard flaps, taken from a set currently not in use):

A pub bike needs a means to carry stuff - a basket was decided upon. I've seen many a Wald strapped to a rack and considered this option, but ultimately a Pelago Rasket was bought. It's a well thought out piece of kit: two different front crown brackets to alter the height of the basket part relative to the mudguard; and three different fittings for attaching the struts at the fork dropouts. Lacking braze-ons at the dropouts for a rack, I used the fittings that allowed attachment of the struts to the mudguard braze-ons:

For the fork crown, I went with the bracket that provide the highest clearance from the mudguard (on second thoughts the lower option may of been better, ah well). To provide the third point of attachment of the front mudguard I attached it to the rack via one of my customised cork washers: